London: A pair of John Lennon’s sunglasses The Beatles legend once left behind in the back seat of a car sold Friday for nearly $200,000 at an auction in London.
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Billed as one of the most famous pair of specs in rock-and-roll, the round, green-tinted lenses and their golden frame belonged to Alan Herring, the chauffeur for the Liverpool quartet’s drummer Ringo Starr and band mate George Harrison.
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“In the summer of 1968 I had picked John up with Ringo and George in Ringo’s Mercedes and driven the boys into the office,” Herring recalled in a statement released by the Sotheby’s auction house.
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“When John got out of the car I noticed that he’d left these sunglasses on the back seat and one lens and one arm had become disconnected. I asked John if he’d like me to get them fixed for him. He told me not to worry they were just for the look!”
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Herring said he never did get them fixed, and the pair sold for #137,500 ($183,500, 165,000 euros) in an online auction to an unnamed bidder.
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The sale included other Fab Four collectibles, including a hippy necklace with cowbells warn by Harrison, which sold for #10,000.
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“For my family’s sake it makes sense for me to say goodbye to my collection now while I can still tell all the stories behind everything,” Herring said.
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Lennon was fatally shot by a crazed fan outside his Manhattan apartment building in 1980 when he was 40, and Harrison died of lung cancer at the age of 58 in 2001.
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